1. Nichole Skews Lloyd Street School skews.nichole.a@edumail.vic.gov.au
Inquiry Maths
Nichole Skews
Lloyd Street School

2. What is Inquiry Maths?
PYP – Many teachers struggle to know what this looks like – Maths team agreed to explore and support teams – Began researching and reading articles

3. Jo Boaler Carol Dweck Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University
Carol Dweck – Growth Mindset expert / Jo Boaler applies this research to a mathematical setting
Jo Boaler
Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University
Carol Dweck
Professor of Psychology
at Stanford University

4. Mathematical Mindsets
All heard this – not just students but parents and teachers as well – most prevalent in maths (don’t hear “I’m just not a reading person”) – some teachers and parents have maths ‘trauma’ and project this message onto students
“I’m just not a math person!”

5. How Students Should be Taught Mathematics: Reflections from Research and Practice Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Stanford University
Mathematics classrooms should be places where students:
Develop an inquiry relationship with mathematics, approaching math with curiosity, courage, confidence & intuition.
Talk to each other and the teachers about ideas – Why did I choose this method?  Does it work with other cases?  How is the method similar or different to methods other people used?
Work on mathematics tasks that can be solved in different ways and/or with different solutions.
Work on mathematics tasks with a low entry point but a very high ceiling – so that students are constantly challenged and working at the highest and most appropriate level for them.
Work on mathematics tasks that are complex, involve more than one method or area of mathematics, and that often, but not always, represent real world problems and applications.
Are given growth mindset messages at all times, through the ways they are grouped together, the tasks they work on, the messages they hear, and the assessment and grading.
Are assessed formatively – to inform learning – not summatively to give a rank with their peers.  Students should regularly receive diagnostic feedback on their work, instead of grades or scores.  Summative assessments are best used at the end of courses.

6. How Students Should be Taught Mathematics: Reflections from Research and Practice Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Stanford University
Mathematics classrooms should be places where students believe:
Everyone can do well in math.
Mathematics problems can be solved with many different insights and methods.
Mistakes are valuable, they encourage brain growth and learning.
Mathematics will help them in their lives, not because they will see the same types of problems in the real world but because they are learning to think quantitatively and abstractly and developing in inquiry relationship with math.

7. Resources https://www.youcubed.org/ http://nrich.maths.org/

8. Putting Ideas in Practise Warm-ups
Problem Solving
Shape Times Shape
Benefits
Promotes discussion
Justification of ideas
Engaging
Multiple strategies
Helps students make connections

9. Putting Ideas in Practise Warm-ups
My Favourite No
Benefits
Learning from mistakes
Promotes discussion and sharing of strategies
Quick informal assessment
Clarify misconceptions
Process
Equation or problem on board aimed slightly higher
Students answer on paper individually – hands to teacher
Teacher chooses one incorrect answer – records on board
Students identify what the person is doing well and where they went wrong
Discuss different strategies to get correct answer
warm-up-routine

10. Putting Ideas in Practise Main Activity
The Four 4’s

11. Putting Ideas in Practise Main Activity
Squares to Stairs

12. Further explored final idea – trying to make a connection between the figure number and the number of boxes

13. Easier Example (problem solving strategy)
6, 10, 14, 18 …
Term 1, Term 2, Term 3, Term 4 …
Need a rule to help us easily work out the 20th term or any term we want
What connections can we make between the term and it’s value?
What can we do to the term to give us it’s value?

14. Students went back to original problem and tried to make a connection / rule (very complex) – group of students were exploring the idea of making squares or rectangles and then halving

15. Nichole Skews Lloyd Street School skews.nichole.a@edumail.vic.gov.au
Inquiry Maths
Nichole Skews
Lloyd Street School